NYC Foetus

Film Synopsis

NYC Foetus
Director: Clement Tuffreau
Year: 2008
Country: France
Duration: 78 minutes
Web: clementtuffreau@hotmail.com


Jim Thirlwell bailed from Melbourne in the late ‘70s, heading first to London then New York, to create his own unique music. Taking on numerous identities, from Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel, You’ve Got Foetus On Your Breath, Wiseblood, and Manorexia, Thirlwell has created visionary bombastic hymns to psychological and cultural meltdown. Recording as Wiseblood, he created the sonic equivalent of a drag race, and as Manorexia he creates soundtracks to unrealised films. Working with everything from tape loops to full orchestras and collaborating with artists including Lydia Lunch, Marc Almond, Nick Cave, the Kronos Quartet, Nurse With Wound, Current 93, Sonic Youth, and Einsterzende Neubauten, Thirlwell is a one man creative powerhouse. 

This documentary focuses on his creative processes and features archive footage from various Foetus incarnations, as well as commentary from the likes of Michael Gira, Lydia Lunch, Alex Hacke, Matt Johnson (The The), and producer Martin Bisi, among others, painting a picture of a musician who has pushed through technologies, structures, and genres to craft utterly unique music.

Australian premiere.

Screens with the short film Do You Love Me Like I love You